Lining up motor voters

Sunday

Aug 26, 2012 at 6:00 AM

Robert Nemeth

Mailing voter registration forms to 480,000 welfare recipients in Massachusetts would have been wrong even if it was done by some private organization. But the fact that the taxpayers are picking up the $275,000 tab for a project designed to benefit a political party makes it even worse.

A bit of background: The state was under pressure by Demos, a left-wing advocacy group, that sued the state for noncompliance with the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, known as the “motor-voter law.” It requires state government to provide voter registration services to anyone applying for a driver’s license or for welfare benefits. It also obliges the states to accept voter registration by mail without proof of residence or citizenship. Obviously, those provisions are an invitation for fraud.

It so happens that the chairperson of the Demos board of trustees is Amelia Warren Tyagi, the daughter of Elizabeth (Cherokee) Warren, who insists that the lawsuit pursued by her daughter’s organization — which is affiliated with leftist causes backed by George Soros — has nothing to do with her own candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Scott Brown.

That contention is laughable even under the limited standards she set for credibility. Ms. Warren Tyagi also chairs the board of American Prospect, a leftist opinion magazine, which has championed Mom’s campaign. In a recent issue, the publication posed the rhetorical question, complete with the answer: “Why do liberals love Elizabeth Warren so much? It’s because of her actual record and positions, of course.”

The Demos suit underscores the absurdness of the prevailing system of entitlement. It was filed in behalf of a Lowell woman who received welfare benefits for 10 years but said she was “never offered a chance to register to vote.” A Census Bureau survey in 2008 found that nearly half of the unregistered voters were either “not interested in the election” or “not interested in politics.”

Assuming that the Lowell woman in the Demos case received a registration form by mail, will she actually show up at the polls and cast a vote? Or will she and others wait until the taxpayers also send them absentee ballots, possibly filled out with the help of volunteers? (As we saw during recent elections in Worcester, interpreters and community organizers were allowed to accompany voters to the polling place to assist them.)

Let’s not mince words: Mass-registration of welfare recipients, and other voter assistance programs selectively aimed at certain segments of the population, are promoted by Democrats who believe the poor and minorities will automatically back the party’s agenda and candidates. That is why they vociferously oppose any kind of voter identification at the polls, an anti-fraud measure Republicans and independents generally favor. The Massachusetts Legislature, where Democrats dominate the political system, has been hostile to voter identification.

Voter rights advocates contend that mandated identification at the polls suppresses voter turnout among the urban poor, elderly and minorities who may not typically have driver’s licenses or other photo ID. That argument is disingenuous at best because no one, except illegal aliens, could possibly function without some kind of documentation. That welfare client in Lowell had to identify herself to get benefits or to rent an apartment. Some states no longer require photo ID and allow voters who show up without papers to use temporary ballots that can be verified after they meet with local election administrators. Others offer free ID cards.

A strong turnout of enlightened voters strengthens democracy immeasurably by limiting the influence of special interests that otherwise dominate elections. However, I agree with Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby’s observation: “We have gone overboard with this notion that voting must be as effortless and convenient as possible.” (He once registered a cat to vote in three different states and wrote a column describing just how easy it was to exploit loopholes in the motor-voter law.)

The motor-voter provision is just one of several shortcuts. In many parts of the country, Election Day has lost its meaning because people can vote as early as September. Some states make absentee ballots readily available without asking questions about reasons to use them. Oregon and Washington conduct all their elections by mail, and there are proposals about voting over the Internet.

Dragging voters to the polls and coercing them to vote doesn’t necessarily produce good government. When I lived in a communist country as a young adult, we were actually forced to vote. If someone didn’t show up at the polls by midday, there was a knock on the door, and the “neighborhood organizer” delivered a warning. Because voting for the party’s agenda and candidates was the only choice, a unanimous result was ensured, and so was a nearly 100 percent voter turnout.

The right to vote in the United States freely and independently is a cherished privilege and a fundamental civic responsibility. The first time I was able to vote in this country was one of the proudest days of my life. Voting is a simple process involving a time-honored protocol that begins with proper registration and ends with making informed choices at the ballot box. It is less difficult than applying for a driver’s license or signing up for benefits, but a lot more gratifying.

Robert Z. Nemeth’s column appears regularly in the Sunday Telegram.

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